http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.co...high-price-for-miles-austins-2010-salary.html
Cowboys will pay a high price for Miles Austin's 2010 salary
Miles Austin's contract is getting even more expensive for the Cowboys. The six-year, $54 million extension the veteran receiver signed in September 2010 is at the heart of the $10 million the Cowboys will lose for their salary cap over the next two seasons. Specifically, it is the $17.078 million the Cowboys paid Austin in base salary in 2010 that has Dallas facing a deduction now.
The deduction, not deemed a violation, can be split between the 2012 and 2013 salary caps however the team wishes. A source said team officials are meeting to determine how to divide the deduction. The Cowboys could choose to lessen the impact this year, allowing them still to improve the team in free agency. Free agency begins at 3 p.m. Tuesday, and Jerry Jones said earlier this month that the Cowboys would be active.
The Cowboys had $12.9 million in cap room before giving linebacker Anthony Spencer the franchise tag last week. Spencer now is guaranteed $8.8 million for 2012, eating up a chunk of the Cowboys' space.
The Cowboys are expected to rework the contracts of Dez Bryant, Doug Free, Orlando Scandrick and DeMarcus Ware to create more than $12.5 million in cap space. They also could save $6 million in cap space by designating cornerback Terence Newman as a post-June 1 cap casualty.
The 2012 salary cap will be $120.6 million, though the Cowboys and Redskins likely will have less to work with, depending on how they split their deductions, and 28 teams will receive more. The Redskins will lose $36 million. The Saints and the Raiders will not lose or gain any money. The other teams in the league will receive an extra $1.6 million each in cap money.
Teams reportedly were warned on several occasions not to dump salaries into the uncapped year, though all contracts are approved by the Management Council.
Because the player pool as a whole remains unchanged, the Players Association approved of the deal to take cap space from the Cowboys and the Redskins. Thus, there is no avenue for an appeal for the two NFC East teams.
“The Management Council Executive Committee determined that the contract practices of a small number of clubs during the 2010 league year created an unacceptable risk to future competitive balance, particularly in light of the relatively modest salary cap growth projected for the new agreement’s early years," the NFL said in a release. "To remedy these effects and preserve competitive balance throughout the league, the parties to the CBA agreed to adjustments to team salary for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. These agreed-upon adjustments were structured in a manner that will not affect the salary cap or player spending on a league-wide basis.”
The Cowboys are expected to release a statement later today.
-- Clarence E. Hill Jr./Charean Williams
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